Walter Isaacson on the Life and Legacy of Henry Kissinger

Walter Isaacson on the Life and Legacy of Henry Kissinger | Amanpour and Company

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7 ай бұрын

Henry Kissinger, one of the most famous American Secretaries of State, died on Wednesday at 100. From his pivotal role in the Vietnam War to holding secret diplomatic talks with communist China, Kissinger wielded great diplomatic power. His influence was evident as world leaders offered their condolences. Russian president Vladimir Putin called him “a wise and visionary statesman” who “made it possible to achieve détente in international tensions and reach important Soviet-American agreements." In the Middle East, the Israeli president praised Kissinger for laying the foundation for Israel’s peace agreement with Egypt after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. But he was reviled by many for his role in the bombing of Cambodia and the rise of repressive regimes in Latin America. Historian and journalist Walter Isaacson, author of what many consider the definitive Kissinger biography, knows his subject’s life story inside and out. Walter joins Bianna to reflect on Kissinger’s life.
Originally aired on November 30, 2023
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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.
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Пікірлер: 38

@markkozlowski3674 6 ай бұрын

When asked why he stopped writing songs and recording, Tom Lehrer replied that "political satire became redundant once Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize".

@kevinjenner9502 6 ай бұрын

War Criminal on a grand scale. Even today people being maimed, injured, or killed in Cambodia and Laos.

@tarnopol 6 ай бұрын

Gore Vidal on Kissinger (from Palimpsest): "Among the crude Titans was Henry Kissinger. In the next few days he and I attended a half-dozen functions together. I have no idea what he was doing memorializing the American Academy; but the people who give money for such causes have made something of a pet of him, rather as they had made of Truman Capote in an earlier time. Although Kissinger and I were careful to keep some distance apart, I could hear the ceaseless rumbling voice in every corner of the chapel. The German accent is more pronounced in Europe than on television at home. He has a brother who came to America when he did. Recently, the brother was asked why he had no German accent but Henry did. 'Because,' said the brother, 'Henry never listens.' As I left him gazing thoughtfully at the hell section of The Last Judgment (as pretty and bright now as Tiepolo), I said to the lady with me, 'Look, he's apartment hunting.’"

@kevinjenner9502 6 ай бұрын

“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands”…Anthony Bourdain

@Hume77 6 ай бұрын

Everyone seemed to think that they should take his advice, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Carter, and Hillary Clinton. Jimmy Carter, the moral opposite of Kissinger, still was influenced by him, especially with the Iran rescue fiasco. And then Kissinger savaged him in public. Kissinger was a realist, who did not believe that morality applied to nation states, who behaved in their national interests and should only act in accordance with those interests. Alliances were prudential, not based on shared political or moral values such as human rights and democracy. The result was some of the worst actions the US government ever undertook motivated by a war criminal.

@kevinjenner9502 6 ай бұрын

Realpolitik as a means of obtaining objectives while simultaneously disregarding International Law, the UN Charter, Nuremberg Principles.

@71suns 6 ай бұрын

And guess who was running each and every nation state... commiting horrendous abhorrent decisions impacting millions of lives? What gender specifically was making (and still is even in 2023)..all domestic and foreign policy decisions? OWN IT.

@dawgmaw 6 ай бұрын

War criminals should not be celebrated. (Hear that, bush Cheney and Condi Rice?)

@yoonisguleed8645 6 ай бұрын

Crook 😢❤

@SteveBrant55 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for this! And to think Hillary Clinton spoke in glowing terms about her friendship with Kissinger during the 2016 campaign. This is why I had grave misgivings about what kind of President she would have made. I worried she would be pro-war more than she was pro-peace. Of course, we will never know ... and who we got instead was a criminal con man. But her friendship with Kissinger, in my opinion, probably cost her votes.

@kevinjenner9502 6 ай бұрын

Bernie Sanders “I’m proud to say Henry Kissinger is not my friend” In response to Hillary Clinton acknowledging Kissinger as a mentor and friend.

@nicholasschroeder3678 6 ай бұрын

Excellent point

@ER1CwC 6 ай бұрын

Hillary and Kissinger had different foreign policy worldviews. She was widely considered a liberal internationalist, whereas he was widely considered a realist. She thought in terms of values, and he thought in terms of interests. That would have likely caused them agree on some uses of force and to disagree on other uses of force. Her point was that she liked to have advisors who have a range of views. Perhaps Kissinger was ‘so bad’ that he shouldn’t have been invited to the table, but frankly Sanders’s propensity to sideline people who disagree with him (and not just on foreign policy) is ideological and petulant.

@71suns 6 ай бұрын

Absolutely 💯 correct

@_derpderp 6 ай бұрын

And to think Nixon may have been the one to have had more scruples…

@robertrogers7331 6 ай бұрын

Henry made himself feel powerful by playing savage Victorian era toy soldier planetary war. Simply because in childhood he lacked safety and belonging. He immigrated to NYC at 15 and never lost his Dr. Strangelove voice because he felt like an outsider. Bourdain, Obama, and Hitchens excoriate him. He was profoundly alone, never listened, and hid behind power.

@johnmalenchek6597 6 ай бұрын

No excuses for war crimes. The original Doctor Strangelove.

@robertsmith5744 6 ай бұрын

Eisenhower was the LAST Republican President.

@kevinjenner9502 6 ай бұрын

The 70th anniversary of Eisenhower overthrowing the sovereign government of Iran via CIA Coup. The Coup removed Iran’s democratically elected leader Mossadeq, and installed the Shah as an American puppet. (CIA Operation Ajax 19953)….Eisenhower then overthrew the sovereign government of Guatemala via CIA Coup. The Coup removed Guatemala’s democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz. (CIA Operation PBSuccess 1954)

@keysersoze5920 6 ай бұрын

War criminal, period!

@BRuane-pw6xq 6 ай бұрын

This Guy talked Carter into allowing Shah into USA leading to Carter s loss in 1980.

@ondinehd6889 6 ай бұрын

"Genuine love of the free world???" Is that why he backed far-right military dictatorships all over the place, as for instance in South America, with Operation Condor, and went along with Indonesia's Timor enterprise, and East Pakistan, not to mention Cambodia and Laos. He didn't "love" "the free world," he loved unhinged, unregulated free trade, and markets, and capitalism, which made very rich the elite. He worked for the elites. In the long term, that's working "well" for everybody.... He was short-sighted, and had tunnel-vision, and Nixon was paranoid.

@frankvitaris143 6 ай бұрын

What a bowl of mush. This commentary post Kissenger is not “reporting”.

@livingintheforest3963 6 ай бұрын

I love Henry Kissinger!! I don’t think people understand him. He was a survivor. He was born and raised in Furth Germany, which is a very Jewish ghetto in Germany and he lived through the holocaust coming to this country and becoming hugely sought after in the political world and a genius on political affairs. Cant wait to read more about him!❤

@gomerpyle7721 6 ай бұрын

Love him for what? Do you also love Cheney or Rumsfeld? They operated straight from the Kissinger playbook. Do you love Trump? Because I have heard him use similar phrases as Kissinger.

@71suns 6 ай бұрын

😂😂😂 Hahahahaha!

@samuelirizarry69 6 ай бұрын

Oy vey why do the Gentiles dislike us?

@matthewcunningham5069 6 ай бұрын

Maybe you shouldn’t conflate Kissinger with all of Judaism, cause that man was a treasonous war criminal of the first order.

@samuelirizarry69 6 ай бұрын

@@suehines2581 antisemitism! Lol

@avinashreji60 6 ай бұрын

@@samuelirizarry69Shut up you dolt, Kissinger once said he would be antisemitic if he weren’t Jewish

@renzo6490 6 ай бұрын

@@samuelirizarry69 criticizing the ideas or actions of someone who happens to be Jewish does not equate to antisemitism . Those ideas and actions would be targets for criticism regardless of the religion,culture or nationality of the person.

@livingintheforest3963 6 ай бұрын

Because so many gentiles are holocaust sympathizers